The invention relates to a joint-masking device.
A joint-masking device of this type is known from DE-U-86 00241. At the lower end of the supporting limb there are provided enlargement fins the outer surfaces of which lie on an imaginary circular cylinder. The base profile strip has two vertical mounting limbs, the inner surfaces of which face each other and each have a plurality of longitudinal grooves whose bottom surfaces likewise lie in pairs on an imaginary circular cylinder of the same diameter. Depending on the height of the joint to be masked, the ball head of the masking profile strip lockingly engages in a corresponding pair of grooves. The fact that the masking profile is mounted on a ball-type articulation means that it may also assume a certain inclined position, though this is limited to a small angle of pivot. At the bottom, the supporting limb of the masking strip is not supported on the base strip; instead, the wings of the masking strip rest on the neighbouring floor coverings. It would be an ideal coincidence if the ball head were to engage in the lateral grooves of the mounting limbs. It will occur much more frequently that the surfaces of the ball head of the supporting limb will come to rest between two pairs of grooves of the mounting limbs, which means that situations can certainly occur in which the ball head will attempt to escape to the next-higher pair of grooves, so that the masking wings of the masking strip will lift off from the floor coverings. When loads are applied, the masking strip will then move, which is disadvantageous.
FR-A-26 95 671 likewise teaches an articulated way of mounting a masking strip on separate base mounts consisting of nails which have heads whose top surfaces are flat and whose undersides are curved like the roof section of a tunnel. The masking strip has two supporting limbs which are curved to form a mirror image of one another and which engage beneath the heads of the nails. Before assembly, the nails must be pushed into the strip from one end, and assembly is effected by aligning the nails with dowel-holes previously drilled in the floor and then pushing them into said holes by exerting pressure on the masking strip. Between the curved mounting limbs of the masking strip, a V-shaped coupling area is provided on said masking strip, the apical edge of which rests on the flat top surface of each head nail. The strip can be pivoted at the retaining nails to a greater extent than in the first prior art mentioned, though the retaining nails do not guarantee that the masking strip will be supported reliably; rather, said masking strip is deformed when a load is applied, whereby the nails are pressed deeper into their dowels, and, when the load on the masking strip is released, said nails travel back upwards and, because of the elastic deformation of the strip, can even move up beyond their original position, which means that, after a certain time, the strip will no longer be held in position without wobbling. While it would be conceivable to insert a base profile strip into the masking strip instead of the separate head nails, fitting the base strip would then be problematic.